You Just Know
by TStabler
Summary: Sometimes, we underestimate the bonds we have with people we love. We can tell when something is wrong, we know what they're thinking and feeling without them saying a single word. There is no explanation, but sometimes, you just know. Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson are about to find out how very true that is. EO ONE-SHOT


**A/N: Sometimes, we underestimate the powerful bonds that form with the people we love. (A vignette fic)**

 **Disclaimer: Still don't own them, but still like to play with them**.

Day 1:

She had never driven so fast in her entire life. She'd never parked so unlawfully or misused her car's gold shield so blatantly, and she certainly never flashed her badge and pulled rank as much as she had tonight.

Running through the hospital halls, she pushed aside doctors and leaped over patients in wheelchairs, finally coming to a screeching halt as she rounded the corner and saw him standing there. She ran again, to him, ignoring every other person in the waiting room as she threw her arms around him.

Not a single word left her mouth, and the only sounds from him as he squeezed her tight were harsh sobs, muffled by her chest. She closed her eyes and dropped her chin to his head, her hands running along his back in a fruitless attempt to comfort and calm him.

He looked up and shook his head at her, his red eyes pained but filled with something that, in the current situation, was not only ironic but mildly disrespectful. "How?" he asked, still crying. "How did you know, I...I was just about to call you...I..."

"Shh," she said, shaking her head and pulling him back to her in time for him to break down again. "I just knew."

Day 30

The last of the pictures were finally boxed up, and she sighed heavily as she rolled a length of packing tape over the seam of the cardboard container. She couldn't understand why he insisted on putting them all in storage, but she did know that it was easier to hide away the things that caused pain, since she had done the same with things that belonged to her mother.

She sidestepped around him as she brought the box toward the door, but as she turned to ask if he was sure about this, she saw him hanging new photos. More recent ones of him and his children, a few that she was in, and right in the middle of the wall, hanging over the fireplace, the last family photo that was taken.

A month after Eli was born, Elliot had to beg on hands and knees for her to be in the picture, "because you're family, and you're the only one who keeps Eli calm." She reluctantly agreed, but the experience was less than pleasant. The photographer assumed she was the wife and mother, which made the afternoon spent with Kathy awkward. She had spent most of the time that day ignoring her, but now, looking at the photo, she felt deeply apologetic for it.

"She didn't hate you," he said, turning to look at her. "Liv, she didn't."

"How did you know what I was thinking?" she asked him, her eyes narrow.

He smiled at her, a bit of sadness behind the expression. "I just knew."

Day 73

"You tired yet?" he asked, grinning. His hands were filled with bags and boxes, but some part of him wished at least one was empty so it could hold hers.

"Are you kidding?" she asked, wide-eyes. "I've had three cups of coffee since we left the house.

They shared a laugh and she moved closer to him, reaching for the handles wrapped around his left hand. She grabbed them, giving him a kid-like smile. "Your fingers were turning purple," she laughed.

"Oh, well, good circulation is important," he retorted. Again, they laughed together. "Thanks."

She squinted. "For what?"

"Being there," he said, sighing. "The kids would have never made it through Thanksgiving if you weren't with us." His fingers itched, and he couldn't tell if it was simply blood pumping through them again or the need to hold her hand. He felt his fingertips twitch, and he moved, slowly.

She felt him grab her free hand, her breathing halted as he twisted his fingers around hers. She looked down at their hands, and then up into his eyes. She said nothing, but she smiled. "It's been a difficult couple of months. Besides, there was nowhere else I needed to be. You guys are all I've got." She shrugged, looking around the city as they walked.

"Two more stores," he said to her.

"Three," she returned. "But I promise I won't go in with you."

"What?" he asked, laughing in surprise. "How the hell did you.."

"Hey, El, I just knew," she told him, and then she tugged on his hand and pulled him along a bit faster.

Day 105

"No," she said, rolling her eyes. The beer in her hand had gone warm a while ago, but she still sipped it anyway.

Casey Novak gave her a disbelieving look. "Right," she scoffed, "You're still living with him, right?"

"Yes, but it's only until..."

"Until when?" Casey asked. "Kathy died almost four months ago, his kids have gone through grief counseling and they're all doing just fine, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you were kissing him at the Christmas..."

"Under the mistletoe and the influence of heavyweight egg nog!" she interrupted, pointing a finger. "Nothing is going on with us."

"Nothing?" Casey asked, "Or just nothing you're ready to admit?"

"Elliot is my partner," she said, downing the last of her beer. "Nothing more than that."

"Olivia," Casey said, "You're a smart woman. If you honestly think I believe that..."

"Casey," she said, interrupting again, "Drop it, okay?"

Casey looked up and grinned. "Here comes your boyfriend, now." She slid off of her bar stool and held a hand out. "I think I'm in your seat, Stabler." She laughed to herself and sat on an empty stool a few seats away, near another colleague.

Elliot looked at Olivia and grinned. "Looks like I got here in the nick of time," he chuckled. He signaled the bartender, silently asking for two fresh beers. "She was grilling you like a steak."

"She's blowing smoke," she said, nodding her thanks as the bartender dropped her beer in front of her. "Where were you?"

"Had to talk to someone about something," he said. He tapped the neck of his bottle against hers. "Cheers," he said.

She tilted her head. "What are we toasting, here?"

"Us," he said after he swallowed a long swig of his beer. "You can stop lying to Novak."

She furrowed her brow. "How did..."

"Liv, honey," he said, stopping her by pressing a finger to her lips. "I just knew."

Day 198

"How long has this been going on?" The man's face was screwed up in something between anger and relief.

"Officially?" Elliot but his lip. "Couple months."

"And unofficially?" the older man asked, arms crossed. "Do I need to guess? Because if I do, I'm gonna say something that's either way off or dead on, and it's going to make one or both of you look bad."

Elliot cleared his throat. "I wasn't cheating on Kathy, Cap."

"Like hell," Captain Cragen spat. "I'm not blind! I'm a goddamned detective, Elliot, now you have two choices, here, and you damn sure better make the right one!" He blinked and his nostrils flared. "I'm not going to say it, you should just..."

"Tucker call you?" Elliot asked, annoyed, not caring that he cut off his captain's words. "Is that what this is about?"

"Yeah, he called," Cragen seethed. "I should have heard it from you!"

"I needed to know if anything we were or weren't doing would jeopardize our jobs!" Elliot yelled. "And, ya know what? It's not!"

The door opened without a knock, and Olivia walked in with a stern look on her face. "Here," she said, dropping a file on Cragen's desk. "Look familiar?"

Cragen picked up the file, opened it, and read the first page. "Your analysis from Doctor Hendrix? This was years..."

"And it's still relevant," Olivia said. "So, you split us up, you lose us." She folded her arms. "One phone call and I can get a foot in the door with the FBi, El has friends in Homicide, and he talked to Tucker already, this relationship is not against regulation."

Elliot blinked, stunned. "Liv, how did you.."

"I knew," Olivia said, the corners of her lips curling. "Remind me to call Hendrix and thank her."

Day 224

"My head is killing me," she said, grimacing and rubbing her temples.

"Come here," he whispered, pulling the back of her rolling chair around the corners of their adjoining desks. He turned her around and put his hands where hers were, rubbing in circles, a bit harder than she was.

She moaned and let her eyes close. "What time is it?"

"Nearly two," he said. "And again, we're the only ones still here." He leaned into her and whispered, "Daddy's still mad at us for going over his head." He dropped a small kiss behind her ear.

"Yeah, no shit," she said, and then moaned again. "He needs to get over it."

"He will," he said, letting his working hands knead her flesh and muscle as they travelled down her neck and back. He worked out knots and pressed away tension, and slowly he moved his hands back up. "Relax," he said. "We're gonna be fine." He brought his fingers back up to her temples. "And he'll forgive us eventually. You're not losing him, and you're sure as hell not losing me."

She turned her head, looking over her shoulder at him. "You knew what I was thinking?"

"Yeah, baby," he said, smiling at her. "I knew."

Day 280

"She didn't have a lot of stuff," Maureen, Elliot's oldest daughter said.

Elliot huffed as he dropped a box onto his dining room table. "She lived alone in an apartment. There wasn't a lot of space."

"So she's moving in to have an excuse to go shopping?" Kathleen, his middle child, teased.

"Yup," Olivia laughed. "I'm using your father for closet space."

"If that were true, we would have moved all of this months ago," Dickie, the oldest boy, declared as he dropped a laundry basket of clothes onto the couch.

There were laughs and teasing comments flying, and then Lizzie, the youngest girl, asked, "Why didn't we do this sooner? I mean, why now?"

"Liv's landlord asked her why she was paying the rent if she was never there," Elliot said. "I told her he had a point. I said, forget about the apartment, since she's been staying here anyway, I asked her to just...make it official." He smiled and looked at Olivia. "So she is."

Olivia smiled back at him. "Yes, she is." She looked at the kids one at a time. "You guys okay with this?"

"We are," Maureen said, nodding once. "We thought it would happen eventually, and I don't know why you waited so long."

Olivia flattened her smile and sighed. "I didn't want to intrude. I didn't want you to think I was trying to step in and..."

"Dad's been in love with you for years," Kathleen said, a bit of disdain in her words, but a lot of understanding. "None of what happened between you two surprised us."

Dickie chimed in, "And we know it didn't all happen as fast as you want us to think."

"Yeah," Lizzie said, watching her father and Olivia wrap each other up in their arms. "We just know."

Day 302

His eyes were squeezed shut, he was concentrating on not losing it too soon, not like this. "Baby," he moaned, rolling his head to the side. He gripped the sheets and tried to gather strength. "Fuck, Liv," he said with gritted teeth.

She grinned and let her mouth slide up his shaft. She sucked lightly on the tip of him before licking the length one last time. She crawled up his body and positioned herself over him.

He looked into her eyes as he moved his hips, pushing himself up and into her, and he felt fire course through his veins. "I love you," he whispered, his hands moving from the bed to her body.

Throwing her head back, she moaned his name and then said, "I love you, El."

He smirked and began to move a little faster. "I know."

Day 347

"No," she said, shaking her head in disbelief. She picked up the plastic tube in one hand and the thin cardboard box in the other. She flipped the box around, twice, and shook her head again. "No!" she gasped. "El?" she cried, "Elliot!"

He ran into the bathroom, white and panting. "What happened? Liv, are you hurt?"

She just kept shaking her head at him, her wide eyes filling with tears. "No," she breathed, handing him the stick-like thing in her hand.

He was still breathing heavily as he took it from her, and when he looked down, his nose reddened and burned. "We...you and me...we..."

She nodded as her tears finally fell, one hand shot to her mouth and the other to her heart. Again, she shook her head. "Wasn't supposed to happen," she sobbed into her palm.

"Yes, it was," he said with a smile, sniffling. He put the positive pregnancy test down on the edge of the kitchen sink and took Olivia by both shoulders. He turned her around and said, "I knew you were pregnant. We talked about it, we even picked out names just in case, so we can be excited about it now that we know, okay?"

She nodded, still crying. She dropped her head into his chest.

He brushed her hair back and kissed the top of her head. "I wanted this. You gotta believe me, Liv, this is a good thing." He sniffled. "I'm just glad you listened to me and took the test."

"I still..." She sniffled, too, and lifted her head. "I still don't know how you knew."

He wiped away the slowly dripping tears falling down her cheeks, he smiled, and he kissed her slowly and softly. "I just knew."

Day 365

"I don't know what to say to any of this," the man looking at Elliot said. "Isn't this all a little fast?"

"Hardly," Elliot said with a chuckle. "You said it yourself, this started years ago. Only now it's...it's real."

"A baby? And your other kids, your mother, the rest of your family," the man scratched his head and sighed. "How do they feel about this? It's only been a year since your wife..."

"We were divorced before she died," Elliot said, rolling his eyes. "Will you just sign those forms, please? I do have a job to do."

Cragen sighed again. "I knew when I introduced you. I saw it, I just...well, I hoped I was wrong." He picked up his pen and signed the pages, approving Olivia's change of address and medical and maternity leave requests, though both were months away. "I think of you two as family," he said, looking up. He handed Elliot the forms and let out yet another sigh, but this time he smiled. "I'm happy I wasn't wrong."

Elliot smiled back. "Yeah, me, too, Cap," he said with a single nod. "But...we'd only just met, so how did you know?"

Cragen laughed, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair. "Elliot," he said with a shrug, "I just knew."

 **A/N: A rather adult one-shot coming soon**


End file.
